Art

Caryn James: “A nude scene! Abortion; birth control; prostitution! In the silent-movie era, Lois Weber’s films were shockingly ahead of their time – and also immensely popular. She wrote, directed, produced and sometimes starred in her films, and in 1916 was the highest paid studio director in the US, man or woman. She pioneered techniques including split screen and double exposure, for a time ran her own studio, and along with Alice Guy-Blach​é was one of the two women who contributed the most... Tags: Art, Media, US, Lois Weber, 03.18.19, Caryn James, Alice Guy Blach

“MoviePass Uncapped will have a regular price of $19.95 per month, but the company is offering cheaper deals for what it says is a limited time. If you’re willing to pay for a full year (via ACH payment), it will cost the same as that original unlimited plan, namely $9.95 per month. If you don’t want to make a full-year commitment, it will cost $14.95 per month. Now, you may be thinking that this kind of deal is exactly what got MoviePass into so much trouble last year.” Well, the new Terms of ... Tags: Art, Media, Moviepass, Audience, 03.19.19, MoviePass Uncapped

Adam Sternbergh: “When you first heard about podcasts, do you remember how excited you weren’t? Do you recall the first person who said, ‘Did you know you can now download audio files of people talking?’ … They’ve spent a decade in a state of perpetual arrival, [but] they’re here. What’s more, these humble chunks of audio have emerged as the most significant and exciting cultural innovation of the new century.” – New York Magazine Tags: Art, Media, Adam Sternbergh, 03.18.19

Just since the beginning of this year, Spotify has bought podcast producer-distributor Gimlet Media for $230 million and a $100 million startup called Luminary is developing a paid-subscription-only lineup of 40 new podcasts. As one exec said, “The capitalists are here!” Yet, asks Boris Kachka, “What distinguishes a boom from a blip — the beginning of a golden age from a spike of irrational exuberance?” – New York Magazine Tags: Art, Spotify, Media, Gimlet Media, Boris Kachka, 03.18.19

The company deems a community unsuitable for Today In if it cannot find a single day in a month with at least five news items available to share. But the social media giant said it has found that 40% of Americans live in places where there are not enough local news stories to support it. – The Guardian Tags: Art, Media, 03.18.19

Apple didn’t need stars before, but it needs them now. Although the company was the first publicly traded American firm to be valued above $1 trillion, its most recent earnings report showed flat profits and falling revenue. So the plan now is not only to sell devices, but to fill them with content. That has led the company into the alien territory of Hollywood, where local customs can clash with Silicon Valley folkways. – The New York Times Tags: Apple, Art, Hollywood, Media, Silicon Valley, 03.17.19

It survived bankruptcy, the threat of closing and the death of its charismatic founder. In 2014, it became a nonprofit. And now, after 30 years, with more than 132,000 titles — many on VHS, laser disc and DVD — it is as much a cultural warehouse as anything else. – New York Times Tags: Art, Media, Seattle, 03.18.19

More people are creating than ever before, and they’re using the tools that Article 13 will punish to do so. When people have fewer places to share their content or to make money from their content, that’s not helping creators or the “creators industry.” Sure, it might help a very small number of old gatekeeper companies — record labels, book publishers, movie studios — be in a position to demand more money from internet companies, but thinking that those old gatekeepers represent the “creators... Tags: Art, Media, Eu, 03.14.19

So The Perfectionists – a show on Freeform “about a scandal involving college students striving for excellence by any means necessary” – premiered Saturday night. The pay channel’s president said, “We have the best marketing and PR team in the business, but even I was not sure that they would be able to create a college cheating scandal this big to launch our show. … But we’re very grateful that they did.” – Variety Tags: Art, Media, 03.17.19, Rich People 's College

As true-crime podcasts, books, and films explode onto Netflix and many, many other platforms, ethical questions should arise. “It may be impossible to make documentaries or write about horrific crimes without causing someone distress. Should that stay the hand of film-makers?” – The Observer (UK) Tags: Art, Media, Netflix, 03.17.19

The CBS Corporation’s directors agreed to a payout of $1.25 million for an investor lawsuit over money paid to Redstone after his health deteriorated in 2014. Is this the last lawsuit around Redstone, his daughter Shari Redstone, Viacom, and CBS? Maybe. – Bloomberg Tags: Art, Media, Cbs, Redstone, CBS Corporation, 03.15.19, Shari Redstone Viacom

And yes, it’s in Captain Marvel too: White superhero, POC sidekick. To be fair, “The characters would probably balk at the classification of ‘sidekick.’ Yet they’re designated by the films as such, by virtue of their stories ultimately working to support the main character’s arc. All of them exist to help the lead work through some issue or trauma and provide logistical backup.” – The Guardian (UK) Tags: Art, Media, 03.15.19

One of his accusers “said that this case was ‘always the word of a low-level assistant and a perceived eccentric woman of color against an extremely powerful and wealthy TV personality,’ so she was not at all surprised by the news.” – The New York Times Tags: Art, Media, Neil Degrasse Tyson, 03.15.19

Though the movies that won awards were serious, the festival “has turned into something of a testing ground for the hit potential of Hollywood comedies.” – The New York Times Tags: Art, Hollywood, Media, Audience, Sxsw, 03.15.19

James Gunn’s firing from the Marvel movie Guardians of the Galaxy 3 was controversial because Disney fired him when “two far-right provocateurs, Mike Cernovich and Jack Posobiec, threw a spotlight on the [offensive tweets] — written between 2009 and 2012 — after Mr. Gunn harshly criticized President Trump online.” – The New York Times Tags: Art, Media, Disney, James Gunn, Trump, Gunn, Mike Cernovich, Jack Posobiec, 03.15.19

There are spoilers in this article, just FYI – but not in this excerpt: “In addition to [experienced cat actor] Reggie and another experienced animal actor, Archie (yes, they’re named after Archie Comics characters), Brauner found two more orange tabbies, named Gonzo and Rizzo in a nod to the Muppets, at a shelter. Each one had a specialty.” – The New York Times Tags: Art, Media, Muppets, Reggie, Rizzo, Archie, Archie Comics, Brauner, 03.15.19

The studio judges that its “Bandersnatch” project was a success and it’s exploring extending its experiments in letting viewers have more control of the stories they’re watching. But what kinds of stories should these be? – The Guardian Tags: Art, Media, Netflix, 03.13.19

Famous people who spend a lot of time online become especially defensive; experts point to the explosion of social media for the increase in conflating bullies with critics. After all, bullying has been around forever. Now, there are just more opportunities for anyone to weigh in on any subject they want, and it’s far more likely the intended target will see or hear the criticism. – Washington Post Tags: Art, Media, 03.14.19

“[They] faced discrimination and harassment from their fellow staff members. They remained in the same lowly jobs as their counterparts were promoted. They watched their pitches get ignored or rejected, only to see the same ideas warmly embraced when another writer pitched them. … Now a new survey, ‘Behind the Scenes: The State of Inclusion and Equity in TV Writers Rooms,’ of nearly 300 women, people of color, members of the L.G.B.T.Q. community, and people with disabilities writing for televis... Tags: Art, Media, SJ, 03.14.19

“The new streamer, [called PBS Living and] costing $2.99 per month after a seven-day free trial, will offer classic PBS series like The French Chef, This Old House and Antiques Roadshow, along with more recent series like No Passport Required and Christopher Kimball’s Milk Street. The new channel will offer subscribers hundreds of episodes of PBS series across the food and cooking, home, culture and travel genres, with new content to be added each month.” – The Hollywood Reporter Tags: Art, Media, House, Antiques Roadshow, Pbs, Christopher Kimball, 03.12.19

People in a Quebec town and across the province were shocked after learning in January that footage from a derailment and explosion that killed 47 people was used in the drama starring Sandra Bullock. – Toronto Star Tags: Art, Media, Netflix, Quebec, 03.15.19

The nightly two-hour show, which is carried on nearly 200 radio stations nationwide and boasts an estimated audience of 1.3 million, might not identify as ideological or political, at least not overtly. But Lee Habeeb has clearly positioned it as a right-of-center alternative to NPR, whose programs such as Morning Edition and All Things Considered also emphasize skillful story-telling, but which many conservatives perceive, rightly or not, as inhospitable to anything that isn’t progressive or... Tags: Art, Media, Npr, 03.13.19, Lee Habeeb

Last year, Lukas Dhont’s debut feature won four prizes at Cannes and a Golden Globe nomination for best foreign film; Netflix bought the US rights. Then came the backlash — not only were a cis director and actor appropriating the story, but the film focused too much on the character’s body — and the US release was postponed. And then the woman on whose story the film is based spoke up — for Dhont. – The Guardian Tags: Art, Media, US, Netflix, Cannes, Golden Globe, SJ, Lukas Dhont, 03.12.19

The embargo was instated by Pakistan’s Association of Film Exhibitors following last month’s flare-up of armed conflict in and around Kashmir. It may seem a patriotic gesture, but there’s a real question whether Pakistan’s roughly 120 remaining cinemas can survive without Indian films to show. – BBC Tags: Art, Media, India, Pakistan, Kashmir, 03.13.19

Lindsay Ellis has recently emerged as one of the medium’s breakout stars. She earns more than $10,000 a month on Patreon, the crowdfunding site that’s her primary source of revenue. It helps pay for a small staff of mostly part-time employees and allows her to turn out video series like last year’s three-part deep-dive into the Hobbit trilogy, which cost nearly $20,000. Ellis and some of her team went to New Zealand as part of the production, which she feared her supporters would find excessive... Tags: Art, Media, Youtube, New Zealand, Ellis, Lindsay Ellis, 03.09.19

There are a few reasons. A presidential budget is essentially a messaging tool these days, a way to show your supporters that you’re addressing their priorities; Congress has to actually decide where real money will go. Just about every member of Congress has a public radio or TV station in his or her district; any transition from rhetoric to reality would be felt back home. But it’s also because public broadcasting is actually pretty popular and pretty trusted by Americans. – NiemenLab Tags: Art, Media, Congress, 03.11.19